Typical ready-to-assemble (RTA) furniture is shipped and sold to consumers in a disassembled state and must be erected by the consumer before use. Such RTA furniture is usually sold at a relatively low price in general retail stores, as compared to preassembled, higher-end furniture that is sold at a greater cost in furniture stores. While RTA furniture is usually very affordable, it also requires some degree of mechanical aptitude for proper assembly. The consumer must read and understand often inadequate instructions and use various tools to fit components together with an assortment of fasteners and adhesives. Additionally, typical RTA furniture takes a significant amount of time to assemble, often leading a consumer to pay someone else to assemble the RTA furniture who has a greater amount of skill and/or more time to perform the work. This can negate any money saved by purchasing RTA furniture instead of higher-end preassembled furniture.
A typical example of RTA furniture is a ready-to-assemble bookcase, which consists of laminated particle board panels that are held together with various pieces of hardware. The lamination may be paper, vinyl, wood veneer, etc. Manufactured by companies such as Doxey Furniture Corporation of Aberdeen, N.C., and sold at retail at prices ranging from forty to one hundred dollars, an RTA bookcase such as this comes packaged in a long, rectangular box and requires approximately forty minutes for assembly by a consumer with average mechanical skills and a few basic tools. The particle-board panels include upstanding left and right side panels, fixed top and bottom shelves, an optional fixed middle shelf, one or more optional adjustable shelves, and a toe kick panel. A thinner back panel is typically made of high-density cardboard and is also veneer-covered on its from surface to match the other panels. Typically, the back panel is scored along one or more vertical score lines so that it can be folded to a size no wider than the other panels for packaging in the rectangular box.
To assemble a prior art bookcase such as this, the fixed shelves are first attached to the side panels with the included hardware either permanently or semi-permanently depending on the type of hardware used. The hardware holding a typical RTA bookcase together may include a plurality of wooden dowels to attach the fixed shelves and the toe kick panel to the upstanding side panels. Two or more wooden dowels are held in holes in the inner surfaces of the side panels and holes in the ends of the fixed shelves and toe kick panel. The dowels are usually glued in place or are hammered in for a tight friction-fit. By using wood glue, a tight, permanent connection is achieved; however, glue can be messy and lead to sloppy results. Further, wood glue generally takes a long time to dry. While hammered-in dowels often produce neater results, they do not provide the same strength as glue, and much discretion is left to the assembler in how much force to use to hammer in the dowels. Additionally, hammering obviously requires a hammer, which may not be conveniently available in all circumstances.
Instead of, or in addition to dowels, connecting bolts with corresponding cam nuts may be provided to attach the fixed shelves and the toe kick panel to the side panels. These connecting bolts have wood-screw threads on one end and a disc-shaped head on the other end. The threaded end is screwed into a hole in the inner sides of the side panels and the opposite end extends into a hole in the end of a fixed shelf. Each cam nut is fitted into a hole, which communicates perpendicularly with the bolt end hole, in either the top or bottom face of the fixed shelf. The bolt head interlocks with the cam nut within the fixed shelf, whereupon the cam nut is rotated to tighten the connection. This system of bolts and cam nuts generally provides a tight connection between the fixed shelves and the side panels. However, the cam nuts must be precisely aligned in their holes with the bolts or else they will not interlock with the bolts. This often causes great difficulties with assembling the bookcase, especially with the less mechanically inclined. Additionally, a screwdriver is required to assemble the bolts and cam nuts.
After the fixed shelves have been attached to the side panels, the back panel is fitted onto the back of the RTA bookcase. Usually, this is the most tedious and time consuming step of the assembly of the bookcase. Also, this step provides the greatest opportunity for error. The first step in attaching the back panel is placing the partially assembled bookcase front-down on a flat, level surface. Next, pencil marks are made on the back edges of the side panels next to the centers of the fixed shelves. The back panel is then placed, face side down, on the back of the bookcase. At this point it is required that the bookcase side panels and fixed shelves be exactly square. Messy results and an unstable bookcase can easily result from attaching the back panel to an out-of-square frame of panels. In practice, the bookcase is usually not exactly square after attaching the fixed shelves to the side panels, and the panel joints must be flexed somewhat to ensure square alignment of the back panel with the rest of the bookcase frame. After the panels are squared, the back panel is nailed into the top and bottom fixed shelves at the corners of the back panel to prevent the back panel from moving. Next, lines are dram across the back of the back panel between the pencil marks corresponding to the centers of the fixed shelves. Finally, the back panel is nailed into the side panels and fixed shelves using a multitude of nails (usually 25-30) driven around the edges of the back panel and through the lines which extend across the width of the back panel. This requires a great degree of accuracy and again the use of a hammer. If the lines are not drawn over the centers of the fixed shelves or if the nails are hammered in crooked, the nails may protrude through the surface of or miss entirely the fixed shelves or the side panels and be exposed inside the bookcase. This obviously creates unacceptable results.
Finally, the (optional) adjustable shelves are installed. In a typical bookcase, the inner surfaces of the side panels are drilled with two continuous rows of mounting holes that run longitudinally from the top to the bottom of the side panels. The adjustable shelves are held in place between the upstanding side panels by any of several pieces of hardware that are inserted into mounting holes at the desired shelf position. For example, elongated, U-shaped shelving wires may be inserted into and run between two side-by-side holes to support one end of the adjustable shelf. The shelving wires are usually hidden from view within grooves cut into the ends of the adjustable shelf. Alternately, shelf pins having a pegged end and an opposite platform end may be inserted into holes in each side panel to support the adjustable shelves thereon. While mounting the adjustable shelves may seem simple in theory, uneven, tilted shelves often result from misaligning the shelf support hardware. For example, it is usually necessary to count from the nearest fixed shelf, either up or down, the number of holes to the desired location of the fixed shelf. This step must be repeated for each row of holes and piece of support hardware to be used. Often, this results in miscounting and consequent misalignment of the adjustable shelves.
Despite the aforementioned difficulties; correct assembly of the bookcase described above results in a sturdy and attractive, yet relatively inexpensive, piece of furniture. However, the quality of results attained is generally directly proportional to the amount of time spent assembling the structure. Therefore, there exists a need for more easily and quickly assembled RTA furniture that still results in a sturdy, high-quality yet low cost piece.
Previously, several attempts have been made to design furniture that can be packaged with components already attached to one another, yet folded into a collapsed configuration for shipping and storage. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,140,133 to Kraft discloses a portable bar having several back panels that are hingedly attached to one another and to side panels with hardware hinges along vertical lines. Shelves are also hingedly attached to the side panels along horizontal lines with hardware hinges. While the Kraft design takes a user's discretion, and therefore likely error, out of assembling the bar, this design requires the use of relatively expensive hardware hinges. These hardware hinges are costly both in terms of material costs and in assembly labor costs. Further, the use of such hardware is not feasible in connection with ready-to-assemble furniture in the price range contemplated by the present invention.
Another previous attempt at designing collapsible, folding, shelved furniture is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,389 to Stewart. Stewart discloses a multi-shelf cabinet that is made up of a back and two side members joined by block hinges at the upright comers for folding the side members inwardly against the back. The back is split vertically at the center and the two resulting pieces are hinged together. A plurality of shelves are fit into the back and side members and have tenons extending through mortises in the back and side members. However, the Stewart design, like that of Kraft, requires relatively expensive hardware hinges. In addition, the Stewart device is riot designed to be permanent, but is instead collapsible for assembly and use by campers after they have reached a campsite.
Thus, there remains a need for new and improved, ready-to-assemble shelving furniture, such as an RTA bookcase, that can be easily and quickly assembled by almost any person, no matter how mechanically inept, while at the same time providing a sturdy, attractive, high quality piece that does not exceed the price range of existing ready-to-assemble furniture.